


Library of Congress, 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Chap 



Shelf. 






A SKETCH 

OF THE 

Life and Professional Services 

— OF — 

ISAAC SAMS, 

FOB FIFTY YEARS A DISTINGUISHED TEACHER. 



BY 

HENRY S. DOGGETT 



WITH SOME REMINISCENCES BY AN "OLD BOY 



CINCINNATI: 
Peter G. Thomson, Publisher. 

1880. 






Copyright, 1880, 
PETER G. THOMSON. 



jlnstription. 



TO THE TEACHERS OF OHIO IS INSCRIBED THIS 

SLIGHT TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF ONE 

OF THE NOBLEST OF THEIR NUMBER. 

Hillshoro, 0., June, 1880. H. S. D. 



PREFACE. 

This sketch of Professor Isaac Sams was commenced with the 
intention of comprising a few pages to be read at a Teachers 
Institute. It grew under the pen of the writer until this volume 
was made. A prominent Ohio Educator to whom the manuscript 
was read, says : " A character so worthy and original in many of 
its features, belonging in its professional side to a time so rapidly 
passing away, ought, it seems to me, to be preserved for those who 
are to come after us as a striking example of what can be accom- 
plished by downright manliness under unfavorable circumstances. 
Such stories are always encouraging to earnest youth." 

There are others who might have done the work more 
thoroughly than it is done in these pages, but none with better 
intentions. As an old pupil of Prof. Saras, he indulges the hope 
that this work of a leisure hour may help to keep fresh the 
memory of our beloved teacher in the breasts of those who loved 
and appreciated him. 

Acknowledgement is made of obligations incurred by the writer 
to Mrs. Anne M. Sams and to Hon. John W. Steel. 

H. S. D. 
Hillsboro, Ohio, June, 1880. 



CONTENTS. 



Inscription, 3 

Preface, 5 

Chapter I. — His birth, childhood and youth, ... 9 
Chapter II. — Life in the Mediterranean, . . . .13 
Chapter III. — Work in London and Emigration to America, 17 
Chapter IV. — Arrives in Baltimore and secures a School, . 20 
Chapter V. — First experiences as a Teacher in America, 26 
Chapter VI. — Kemoval to the "White House," and the arri- 
val of his Family, 31 

Chapter VII. — IJis Work at Eock Hill Academy and at 
Brooklyn, . . . ... ... 35 

Chapter VIII. — Emigrates to Ohio, .... 40 

Chapter IX. — Takes Charge of the Hillsboro Academy, . 44 
Chapter X. — Keminiscences by an '' Old Boy," . . 47 
Chapter XL — "Reminiscences" continued, . . .51 
Chapter XII. — " Reminiscences " continued, ... 55 
Chapter XIII. — " Reminiscences " concluded, . . .60 
Chapter XIV. — Mr. Sams' work in the Common Schools, 
and some Extracts from his Letters, .... 69 

Chapter XV. — His Last Days and his Death, . . .80 



A Sketch of the Life and Professional Services 

—OK— 

Professor ISAAC SAMS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Isaac Sams was born in Bath, England, on the 
12th of November, 1788. He was the eldest son of 
Joseph and Maria Sams, of Taunton, Somersetshire, 
England. His father was a Baptist minister; and 
two years after the birth of Isaac, removed from 
Bath to Dublin, and preached on a circuit in the 
mountains of Wicklow, a maritime county of the 
province of Leinster, Ireland. At an early age, 
Isaac was sent to one of the best schools in Dublin, 
and early evinced that desire for knowledge which 
was his distinguishing characteristic through life. 
When he was ten years of age, sickness, suffering, 
and death entered his father's household. He and 
a younger sister were both taken down with scarlet 
fever. The father attended on one and the mother 
on the other. The children recovered, but the father 
sickened and died. The shock of the father's death 
prostrated the wearied mother, and a few days after- 



10 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

ward she followed her husband to the grave. Soon 
the household was broken up. The sister was 
resigned to the care of Mary, Viscountess Carleton, 
who was her godmother. Isaac was consigned to the 
care of a cousin residing at Rathdrum, a town on 
the mail road from Wexford to Dublin. This cousin 
was a manufacturer of woolen goods, and the young 
Isaac became an inmate of his family. Here he was 
employed to run errands and do such other work as 
suited his strength. When he had leisure, he 
employed it in reading the few books he had brought 
with him from his old home in Dublin. A neighbor, 
a solitary old man, but a great reader, loaned him 
other books. 

Here was begun his education under circumstan- 
ces that would have disheartened a youth less 
anxious to learn. He continued to read and study, 
and sometimes would write down his thoughts and 
observations on what he had read. Some of his 
writings attracted the attention of Captain Craw- 
ford, a lodger in the house, who was greatly pleased 
with the talent evinced by the lad, and signified a 
desire to procure for him a better position. The 
only place the captain could obtain was one which 
he did not think good enough for him, and the boy 
was left to drudge in his menial position. Soon 
this became unbearable, owing to the tyranny of a 
member of the household, and he left the house, 
hatless, one morning, and took the road to Dublin. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 11 

He walked all the day and slept in a tree at night, 
but the next da}^ returned to his old place. 

He resumed his old work and for the next few 
months was absorbed in religious reflections and 
duties. He attended church regularly, and profited 
by the teachings of his minister. He was soon to 
receive his first communion, and sought to prepare 
himself fitly for it. During his preparations he 
submitted himself to a fast from Thursday evening 
until Sunday noon. At this time his life was pure 
and good, and the religious principles which guided 
him through after life became part of his nature. 

The monotony of the boy's life was little varied 
until his sixteenth year. Then, one day, his master 
having doubted his word in regard to his conduct, 
he asked for his indentures and for permission to 
leave. This was granted and, with the few shillings 
obtained by selling his few precious books, he again 
took the road to Dublin. 

He entered this city on the oth of May, 1805, and 
at once procured lodging in a family where there 
were several small children. For six weeks he wan- 
dered along the streets and quays looking for employ- 
ment. Just about the time he was thinking of 
enlisting, he obtained a situation in a lumber yard 
at £20 a year. His duties here consisted in measur- 
ing the lumber and keeping the books. Leaving 
this situation he became next engaged in a large 
carpet warehouse. It was a part of his duty to take 



12 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

orders, and this made it necessary for him to visit 
the houses of the nobility. Among the houses he 
so visited was that of the Duke of Bedford, then 
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. There he saw the 
Duchess, and the late John Russell and his brother, 
who were then boys younger than himself. His life 
now begun to have some ray of sunshine. When 
not occupied with his business duties, he visited all 
points of interest in the city. The sites of the 
principal buildings, Phoenix Park, the Castle, and 
the Pigeon House were his favorite resorts. His old 
home on George street was often visited, possessing 
as it did, for him, a mournful attraction. Often 
lingering on the quay he gazed upon the opposite 
shore of England, where his sister lived, the only 
one of his family left, and for whom his heart 
yearned with a brother's love. 

He formed a plan for visiting her and soon after- 
ward, on the 18th of April, 1809, he left Dublin for 
London. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 13 



CHAPTER II. 

The subject of our sketch reached London on the 
24th of April, and immediately called upon his sister 
at the residence of Viscount Carleton, in Hanover 
Square. He found her in good health and enjoying 
the friendship and patronage of Lady Carleton. 
Through this lady, the history of young Isaac 
became known to Lord Carleton, who offered to 
obtain for him a place in the navy. His lordship 
then introduced him to Sir John Colfoys, Treasurer 
of Greenwich Hosj)ital, and also to Admiral Pick- 
more, who gave him a position on his staff as Secre- 
tary. His first service was in the Baltic, on board 
the man of war Caledonia, and other vessels, among 
which was the ill-fated St. George, which went 
down the following year, with all on board. This 
vessel had been so injured in passing through the 
Kattegat that it was ordered on the docks for repairs 
on arriving at England. Mr. Sams was about 
returning to it when it was refitted, but was sud- 
denly ordered to join the fleet destined for service 
in the Mediterranean Sea. By this fortunate trans- 
fer he escaped the sad fate that overtook his com- 
rades the following year. 



14 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

The fleet sailed for the Mediterranean in Febru- 
ary, 1810, to engage in active operations against 
the French. 

The city of Cadiz, in Spain, was at this time 
besieged by the French, but their eflforts to take the 
place had been unsuccessful. The English had 
taken Cuidad Rodrigo and Badajoz, and had driven 
the French from Madrid. Lord Wellington was 
now operating against the French in the northern 
provinces of Spain and on the frontiers of Portugal, 
and it was to assist his movements that the fleet 
was ordered to the Mediterranean. 

During the next three years the squadron was 
in almost constant activity, and the vessel on which 
Mr. Sams served was in many severe actions. Still 
his duties were very light, and he had much time 
for study. The one desire for an education was 
ever uppermost in his mind, and he let no means 
for improvement pass by. One of his friends had 
on board a good stock of useful books and placed 
their use at his disposal. Among other studies, he 
commenced to learn the French language, and soon 
acquired sufficient knowledge of it to become well 
acquainted with French history and literature. He 
next took up the study of Latin and Greek, and of 
Roman and English history. In the midst of the 
stirring scenes around him he was a close and ear- 
nest student, but this did not prevent him taking 
great interest in all the movements of the fleet. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 15 

His associates were a light-hearted, merry set, and 
he was often with them in the midst of the fight. 

In after days Mr. Sams sometimes spoke of his 
life in the Mediterranean, and told of comrades shot 
down by his side and of other tragic events that 
transpired around him. In a letter written when 
in his eighty-third year, he alludes to his life on the 
man of war. The lady to whom it was written had 
sailed to India by way of England, France, and the 
Suez Canal. In the answer to her letter, he says : 
" It is well that you should have a taste of a storm 
at sea. The marvellous power of the wind on vast 
masses of water is a thing to be witnessed and felt, 
and in its awful majesty never to be forgotten. It 
is, however, pleasant for us to remember how you 
have been favored on the branky North Sea and the 
spiteful channel, as on the gentle Gulf of Venice. 
Then that sweet, calm night beneath the unclouded 
moon! You cannot think how many memories 
were stirred by that passage in your dear letter. 
For three years I was floating on that most lovely of 
seas and how often it has been my delight to pace 
the spacious deck the long night through, my soul 
ravished with the glory of the firmament and with 
thanksgiving to God for that 'his mercy endureth 
forever.' 

"That is the season in which we think most ten- 
derly of those we love, longing for some communion 
with the dear absent ones, in that still and solemn 



16 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

hour beneath the clear, dark blue sky, studded with 
stars that shine with a splendor, elsewhere in the 
Northern Hemisphere unknown. In 1811, the 
grandest of comets, Halley's, during many weeks 
made its march among the bright particular stars 
dimming their perennial brilliancy with its transi- 
tory refulgence. You will not wonder at the pas- 
sionate affection with which I recollect those sweet 
and blessed nights, even though it is more than 
sixty 3^ears ago. Often then it happened that the 
officer on the deck was either one of my own friends 
or a man with a heart open to benign influences of 
the wonders of nature, with whom it was an advan- 
tage to enjoy an hour's converse. Indeed, on ship 
or on shore, there is always sympathy and help for 
them that need, or even for them who do not reject 
it. And you saw one sunset ! I hope it was superb ! 
We often see from our hills here most beautiful sun- 
sets, and less often sunrises of great splendor, but I 
must say that the gorgeous resplendence of the ris- 
ing and the setting sun in the region of the Medi- 
terranean far surpasses all I have seen elsewhere." 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 17 



CHAPTER III. 

At the close of the war, Mr. Sams returned to 
England, and his friend Lord Carleton obtained for 
him a position as corresponding clerk in the Treas- 
ury Department of Greenwich Hospital, of which 
Sir John Colfoys was treasurer. While engaged 
here, he boarded in the family of Thomas Knowlder 
whose son was an associate in the office. He became 
well acquainted with the other members of the 
family, among whom was a young daughter, Mary. 
The latter had a suitor who had been paying atten- 
tion to her for some four or five years. Mr. Sams 
became attached to her, and one day when a merry 
party were joking Miss Mary about her dilatory 
suitor, Mr. Sams jokingly said to her : " you had 
better turn that fellow off and have me." 

The young lady, after a short pause replied: 
" Well, if you will write and dismiss him, I will." 

Here w^as a predicament. He certainly admired 
and loved the young lady who was discreet and 
ladylike, but he had not thought of marrying so 
soon. But he afterw^ard said: ''I was in honor 
bound to go through with it." So he answered, "I 
will and you must copy it." 



18 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

The letter was accordingly written and sent to the 
gentleman, and shortly afterward, Isaac Sams and 
Mary Knowlder were married. He never had 
cause to regret his marriage, for she made him a 
devoted and excellent wife. In his diary, February, 
1865, recording her death he writes : " Madame Sams, 
11 A. M. left me desolate, the dearest, truest, most 
precious." 

After his marriage, Mr. Sams remained in his 
position, in Greenwich Hospital, for nearly six 
years. During these years, his income was small 
and his family increasing. He did some work as a 
teacher, outside of his official duties, and occupied 
all of his leisure hours in study, for his ambition to 
become educated, had not lessened. In the winter 
of 1817 and 1818, he became very much interested 
in America, and was facinated by Morris Birbeck's 
description of this country. He became impressed 
with the opinion, that his dut}^ to his family 
demanded that he should emigrate thither. 

Accordingly, he embarked on the 25th of April, 
1818, on a sailing packet from Gravesend for the 
United States. After a long and tedious voyage the 
ship entered Chesapeake Bay, on the 17th of June. 
In his dairy, Mr. Sams says : " language is unequal 
to describe, or imagination to depict the matchless 
beauties of our course up this noble bay. Our 
stately vessel had every breadth of canvas fondly 
stretched to catch the most gentle and auspicious 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 19 

breeze. The distant light-house appeared emulat- 
ing the setting evening star, while the dark green 
fringe of shady groves bordered the lucid water, 
which seemed to tremble beneath the pale chaste 
rays of the moon shining in her full orbed splendor. 
The azure spangled firmament seemed to shed on all 
below, its soft serenity. Under the influence of 
such a progress and the grateful recollections of our 
touching on the land of peace, the land of abun- 
dance, the land of freedom ; what heart would not 
exult, what bosom not expand ! Such delights are 
amongst the most refined of which our souls are 
capable." 

On the 19th of June, the ship arrived abreast of 
Annapolis, and on the 20th, reached Baltimore. 



20 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Having secured comfortable quarters, Mr. Sams 
at once searched the newspapers for an advertise- 
ment for a teacher, as he proposed to follow that 
profession, for a time at least. He also wrote a 
letter to Morris Birbeck, asking for information in 
regard to the settlement, then being made under 
his auspices. After dispatching his letter, he called 
upon Dr. Knox, president of Baltimore College, who 
had advertised for a tutor. He found out from him 
that a prominent physician. Dr. Hammond and two 
or three other families, were desirous of employing 
a teacher for their children. The location was 
distant thirteen miles on the Frederick Road. 

At five o'clock on the morning of the 23d of June, 
he started afoot for this place. He breakfasted at 
Leigh's tavern, and afterward ascended a hill near 
by. This spot is situated about ten miles from 
Baltimore, and of it he says in his diary : " my 
attention was rivited upon the scene around me. 
The broad Patapsco rushing over its bed of rock, is 
here crossed by the great turnpike road to Frederick 
and Pittsburgh. This point some years before 
attracted the attention of three brothers named 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 21 

EUicott. They saw in the power here, infinite wealth 
for themselves, and great benefit to the community. 
The land was then neglected and despised. The 
light sands and barren rocks were purchased b}^ 
these enterprising men at $1.50 and $2.00 an acre. 
One tract of sixty acres was bought for an old horse. 
At this time, their united capitals were less than 
$1,000, but their genius and industry, their greatness 
of mind, frugality of habit soon began to work 
wonders. They opened out excellent quarries, soon 
a mill was built, the broad river having been 
dammed at this point. A capitalist, convinced of 
the worth and integrity of the Ellicotts, advanced 
them such sums of money as they wished on moder- 
ate interest. Another mill w^as raised, and even a 
third now strikes the view of admiring beholders 
in this narrow valley." 

This point which afterward became his place of 
residence for many years seems to have made a 
strong impression upon the mind of the young 
teacher, and its scenery to have relieved the tedium 
of his long walk. 

On arriving at his destination, he found Dr. 
Hammond at home, and to him stated his business. 
He told him a little of his past life, his late employ- 
ment and disappointments, and of his family and 
intentions. He showed his letters from the authori- 
ties of Greenwich Hospital, corroborating his state- 
ments. Dr. Hammond finally agreed that he should 



22 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

be employed in the position he desired, if he could 
obtain from Dr. Knox, a letter stating the doctor's 
belief as to his capability of performing the duties 
which would devolve upon him. 

Returning to Baltimore, he addressed a letter to 
Dr. Knox which resulted in an interview the next 
day. He was punctual to the time and thus 
describes his examination: "Dr. Knox walked out 
to the hall of the college and as a preliminary, intro- 
duced me to Dr. Sinclair, the vice-president. He 
then mentioned m}^ letter with which he expressed 
himself very much pleased. Mj handwriting, he 
thought extremely good. ' Regarding Latin ? ' — I 
interrupted him by requesting he would allow me 
to parse a passage. He struck upon the following 
most simple one from Corderius: ^ Quid modo agebas 
cum proceptore,' — which of course was done instantly. 
He was then examined in French from Raynall's 
India. By this time he sa\^s the scholastic examin- 
ation had given place to an agreeable and lively lit- 
erary conversation. Dr. Knox gave freedom to the 
benevolence and good humor of which he has so 
great a fund. Dr. Sinclair did not omit the atten- 
tions of hospitality, and I was perfectly delighted. 
The President took m}^ papers and again exj^ressed 
his gratification on perusing them, and said he 
would give me a letter any time I chose to call." 

He went the following day and received his let- 
ter of introduction and recommendation. African 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 23 

slavery had already attracted his attention and he 
inquired of Dr. Knox how they treated the subject 
in education. The reply he received, after some 
explanation, was: "Silence is the wisest plan 
toward their affairs." 

The next day Mr. Sams proceeded to Dr. Ham- 
mond with his letter and was kindly received. He 
had some conversation with the doctor on the sub- 
ject of education, and says he " strongly insisted on 
the lecturing mode of teaching in preference to the 
task method." The details in regard to his school 
were soon arranged. He was to receive five hundred 
dollars a year for his services, and the number of 
pupils was to be limited to twenty-five. He pro- 
ceeded the following day to his school house, which 
he found to be a log one, low and ill arranged. Some 
repairs were necessary, and while these were being 
made he returned to Baltimore. He gives an amus- 
ing account of his return journey : " His compan- 
ions in the stage," he says, "were a lady of elegant 
and lively manners ; a volatile Bacchanalian ; a 
dwarfish sentimentalist, and a sensible man of bus- 
iness." On arriving in the city he went to church 
in the evening, and of the service, says : " the junior 
minister preached on the text, 'Keep holy the Sab- 
bath day.' I was sorry to hear his lamentable 
canting. No smile of cheerfulness, no moment of 
relaxation, on that day — all gloom, all solemnity 
and devotion ! " 



24 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

After church that evening he remained at the 
house of a new acquaintance in conversation until 
midnight. He then went to a hotel and asked for a 
room. All were engaged and he started to find 
one at another place. He says, " I stood a moment 
to think which way I should go, when I was accos- 
ted by a watchman : 'What 's your name? Where 
do you live ? What business are you in ? Where 
are you going ? ' I did not answer these questions 
to the satisfaction of my gentleman, and being 
joined by another of his tribe, they said I must go 
to the watch-house. Mr. Murphy, a Methodist, with 
whom I was slightly acquainted, happened to be 
the captain of the watch. The man told him pretty 
correctly what had passed. Said I had asked him 
how to get a decent bed, but that was not his duty. 
Said I wondered why I should be arrested when 1 
had not broken, nor shown any disposition to break 
the peace, but I was out after midnight. 

" My Methodist friend began to say, he ' was sorry 
that Mr. Sams should be brought thus before him.' 
But I, out of all patience, made him a speech 
touching the gross misconduct of his people in 
arresting a sober, quiet stranger, w^ho, because he 
happened to be shut out of an inn, must be dragged 
like a robber to a dungeon. ' This is your boasted 
civil liberty,' I said to the pious Mr. Murphy. He 
stood up and begged that I would walk with him. 
He assured me that his people w^ere justified, as his 



PROP^ESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 25 

instructions to the watch were to bring to the watch- 
house all stragglers, night-walkers, and suspicious 
persons. It was a system of preventive police that 
saved much crime. He was very sorry that it had 
happened, for if it got wind it would wound my rep- 
utation, though I were ever so innocent of all impro- 
prieties. Still I was in high dudgeon, and it was 
only after his declaring that I was no prisoner, but 
quite at liberty, and offering me a seat several 
times, a chair outside the watch-house, that I con- 
descended to sit down and doze until three o'clock 
the next morning." 

On that day Mr. Sams proceeded to take out his 
papers declaring his intention of becoming an 
American citizen, notwithstanding his experiences 
of the previous night. He then went to Baltimore 
college and paid his respects to Drs. Knox and Sin- 
clair. Here a discussion arose upon the pronuncia- 
tion of the Latin vowels and dipthongs. Mr. Sams 
gave his opinion in favor of the Italian or Conti- 
nental method. First because he was satisfied it 
approached the nearest the Ancient Roman pronun- 
ciation and because it was the pronunciation of those 
countries in modern times. But he thought the 
English method preferable in England and America 
because it had the sanction of Dr. Johnson and 
many learned men and was in general use in all 
the English universities and agreed with the ver- 
nacular language. 



26 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 



CHAPTER V. 

Leaving his kind friends at Baltimore College he 
proceeded on the 8th of July to his scene of future 
labor, and commenced on that day his work as a 
teacher in America. He organized his little school, 
and seems from the start to have had but little 
trouble, for in his diary, a short time afterward, he 
saj^s " I have not yet had to resort to corporal pun- 
ishment with my chiklren. By my system I keep 
shame alive, and they shed tears when I speak 
severely. " 

He now felt grievously the separation from his 
family. He longed for his absent wife and his little 
boys left behind him in England. About this time 
he witnessed the first thunderstorm since he had 
been in this country. Everyone but himself paid 
little attention to it, while he says he could do noth- 
ing but gaze at the unparalleled magnificence of 
Nature. A visit from a Scotch traveling school- 
master is mentioned in his diary as follows: "his 
pleasure in meeting a Briton, I participated in, but 
not fervently, for, after all, it is kindred minds not 
adventitious identity of country which will unite 
the man of experience or the philosopher." At an 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 27 

early age we have seen that Mr. Sams was very 
much interested upon the subject of religion. Now 
he was boarding in a family, the members of which 
were full of religious zeal. An entrv in his diary 
says: "my host's prayers are so fervent that God 
would change the hearts of those who are strangers 
to his saving grace. He makes many allusions that 
1 am satisfied are aimed at myself, and yet I appear 
so tranquil and indifferent, that we shall never be 
high m each others esteem. What bigoted zeal 
exclusive selfishness that all which it cannot em- 
brace within its pale, it would destroy! My ho^t 
has seen enough of my conduct and gathered enouo-h 
Irom my conversation to feel satisfied that I have 
arrived at a certain point both of information and 
character, but in his heart he holds me a fit bone 
or the devil to jDick and if called upon to speak 
his mmd, would say : ^ Oh he is a well conducted 
character ap^mrently to us, but he has no sicvns of 
saving grace in his heart.' The saving light of faith 
has never struck upon his darkened mind, nor the 
glories of the gospel shed their influence on his 
deluded understanding. Nor is such a being fit in 
his eyes to fulfill any duty as it ought to be fulfilled 
nor discharge any function on earth as it ought to 
be done. Ample scope was this night afforded me 
to form this conclusion when he spoke of those who 
frequent the meeting, yet did not belong to the 
society, because they had never gone with a whin- 



28 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

ing, doleful face and a cant about the call of Grace, 
the light of Faith, the holy kiss of Jesus, the inspi- 
ration of the Spirit, the conviction of regeneration 
and such like unmeaning rhodamontades. 

" I took an opportunity of giving my host to under- 
stand that for my own part, I had for sixteen years 
sought the truth on subjects of religion, with great 
labor and assiduity, and, that at about the age of 
twenty-five had arrived at my conclusions and I 
trusted my convictions were now fixed forever." 

The lady of the house equally imbued with zeal, 
he says "took an opportunit}^ of expressing her relig- 
ious horror of dancing and of music. But remem- 
bering her squalling, of hymns she recanted as to 
music and admitted " that music is a part of 
religion." 

It now occurred to Mr. Sams that in the absence 
of all other religious services in the neighboorhood, 
he would offer to read the service of the Church of 
England in the school house on the Sabbath. Ac- 
cordingly arrangements were made, and on the fol- 
lowing Sunda}^ he read the service to an audience 
of twenty-three persons. He also read a short 
address upon the occasion. 

Reflecting upon this step he says : " here then 
behold a man like me who looks upon the various 
religions of the earth with charity not contempt, 
behold me engaged in the knotty, mazy and inex- 
tricable labyrinth of theology. But amid the lonely 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 29 

contemplations of my evening, while revolving the 
arguments for divinity through the works of crea- 
tion, I happened to observe by mere chance a 
transaction which chilled my holy fervor to expira- 
tion. Hearing a buzzing noise near my desk I 
turned around and observed a fly just entangled in 
the fatal snare of a spider. It struggled in vain to 
free its useless limbs, and the scaly ruffian spider 
flew, or seemed to fly, along the web to seize its 
luckless prey. Again the unwary innocent com- 
menced its violent efforts to escape, but the iron 
arms of the monster fastened round its body. Soon 
he lays it fluttering and struggling on its back and 
whilst it is pinioned there, fastens its murderous 
fangs on the wretch's throat and with unrelentless 
thirst of blood, sucks, and sucks and sucks the vital 
juices from the helpless animal, which after vain 
and excruciating suffering seems at last to yield its 
unwilling life. 

At this moment I awoke from my deep reverie 
and touched, merely touched, the dastard, coward 
murderer who loosed his victim and made a rapid 
flight. But too late ! The fly was where ? his life 
was where ? Where, oh, ye sages ? 

The impression made on me the very moment the 
pen was in my hand writing rhapsodies in praise of 
the Divinity, I can never, never forget." 

Religious matters seem now to have absorbed Mr. 
Sams' thoughts when not teaching or studying. 



30 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

There were many Methodists in the neighboorhood, 
and he visited during the fall one of their camp- 
meetings. The meeting did not differ from those 
of later days excepting that there was more demon- 
stration of excitement. He was also much inter- 
ested in similar meetings held by the blacks and he 
says he found their tears, swoonings, convulsions, 
and shoutings, all in a greater degree of eclat than 
at the white meetings. The religious interest 
became very great, and it is not to be wondered at 
that our young teacher paid a good deal of atten- 
tion to it. At one of the camp meetings he says he 
"entered more than one tent and oftener than once 
apjDroached the altar to make an experiment of the 
effect that what I had heard might make upon me; 
but I apprehend that he who has run my race and 
trod my track has reached beyond the grasp of 
religious enthusiasm." 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 31 



CHAPTER VI. 

About this time the project was mooted among 
Mr. Sams' friends, of purchasing an acre of ground 
and building a church. Of this project, Mr. Sams 
says : " Now, if ever a church were built here, I 
must have it or leave the place ; but would I enter 
orders? There is the rub— I hate orders; but with 
a church, a school, and a farm I might prosper." 
During the fall and winter Mr. Sams, while occas- 
ionally repining for his absent family, gave himself 
up to*^ study. He applied himself to Greek and 
Mathematics. The latter, not for their own sake, 
for he says : " The regions of polite literature can 
never lose for me their predominant charm." The 
absence of his family was the means of his acquir- 
ing knowledge which he would not otherwise have 
gained, for he kept himself busily engaged in order 
that his thoughts might not too much dwell on the 
absent ones. 

His birthday occurred on the 12th of November, 
and is thus noticed in his diary : " I am this day 
thirty. To review the history of my life would be 
instructive, but would require more time than I can 
spare. I am reading Greek, Horace, Algebra, and 



32 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

Geometr}^ I am thinking of nothing more than of 
the clear ones afar off." 

A few days afterward he paid a visit to BaUimore, 
and went to church several times and heard Bishop 
Kemp preach. He also called at Baltimore College 
to see Dr. Knox. He visited the theatre and says 
of the visit : " Went to see Cooper in Richard. 
Like Holman in person and voice and manner. 
Inferior Gloster. Some able touches in his King 
Richard. But Kean having been seen, spoils him. 
The Beehive is well supported by Jefferson." 

A few days afterward, he received a letter from 
England informing him that his wife had given 
birth to a daughter on the 29th of the preceding 
August. On reading his letter he says, "he dis- 
missed his school for the day, and fell into a hyster- 
ical fit of tears." 

On the 24th of December he had a public exam- 
ination of his school, and the patrons present 
expressed the warmest approbation at the progress 
of the children. He then had a vacation until the 
4th of January, 1819, when he resumed his school 
work, not remitting his daily assignment of study. 
He also made arrangements for bringing his family 
over in the spring, and formed plans for the future, 
when re-united with those he loved so well, and 
whose absence he felt so sorely. 

No man ever possessed a more deeply religious 
nature than Mr. Sams, yet we find this entry in his 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 33 

diary in January, 1819: " The good people here 
bore me to death with scripture argument and dis- 
sertation. So much for my pretension to Religion." 
He had many conversations with his host who had 
original views on all subjects. Mr. Sams says they 
were talking one morning about wives and Mr. Poole 
said, "he would choose wives as he would cattle, 
never with long legs and necks, as such are always 
tender and delicate, but with short legs and thick 
necks, as such as hardy." 

About this time, Mr. Sams was informed that 
$3,000 had been subscribed for building a church 
and a school house for him. The school house he 
says " is convertible into a better habitation than 
anything within reach. It might serve. The spring 
opened and a garden patch fenced in, the matter 
would be done. My first motive for stopping is to 
improve my own education. My family are God 
knows where. Perhaps at sea. Should this be so 
they may yet become inhabitants of the woods. 
Between the alternative of going away from here, 
perhaps West, and striking up a school in some city, 
I see no medium." Early in the spring of 1819, 
Mr. Sams' family arrived from England. The pro- 
ject of the new church and school building fell 
through for the time, and he continued in the old 
log school house, giving the most complete satis- 
faction to pupils and parents. 

Having by zealous and unremitting study made 
great progress in obtaining the education he so 



34 - PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

much desired, he longed for a field of labor that 
would bring into full exercise the ability for teach- 
ing he knew that he possessed. 

On the arrival of his family he procured for 
them a comfortable residence in the neighboor- 
hood. For the next two years he continued his 
school in the old log school house, his reputa- 
tion as a teacher constantly increasing. He was 
frequently urged by his friends to remove to a 
more favorable location and in 1822 he rented 
the " White House," a school building two or three 
miles nearer Ellicott's Mills. Removing thither, his 
school and his family enjoyed some advantages not 
attainable in his first location. The reputation 
of his school extended beyond the neighborhood 
and he obtained several pupils from Baltimore, 
and other places. 

He had not been at the "White House" long 
before he was invited to come to Ellicott's Mills, then 
a growing and flourishing village. Tenders of aid 
and influence were made him by prominent citizens 
of that place. He determined upon a removal and 
purchased a piece of ground in that village and 
had erected upon it a school building while carry- 
ing on his school at the White House. He removed 
to this new location in 1S24 and opened Rock Hill 
Academy. He received at the beginning about 
forty boarders as pupils, many who had been in his 
school at tl)^ White House following him to Elli- 
cott's Mills. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 35 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Rock Hill Academ}^ was a day and boarding 
school. It rapidly attained an excellent reputation 
and was considered the best school of the kind in 
the State. From the commencement it had all the 
pupils that could be accommodated. Many of these 
were from Baltimore and Philadelphia, and belonged 
to prominent families. Quite a number of them 
became afterward well known in the business and 
politics of their several States. 

At this school the pupils from a distance were 
received into the family of the principal, and he 
became their companion and friend as well as their 
teacher. He says " in discipline he endeavored to 
arrive at beneficial results rather by the benignity of 
his admonitions and by demonstrating the reason- 
ableness of his representations, than by rigor and 
severity." 

He was their chief instructor in the Classics and 
the Mathematics, while the department of the 
French and Spanish languages was in charge of 
a resident professor, a gentleman from Paris. 

" The evenings," he says, " are passed by the 
whole family in the library, where are arranged 



36 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

about six hundred volumes of books selected for 
this particular purpose, and to which the attention 
of the youth is won by constant reference to their 
contents in the ordinary course of teaching. Read- 
ing is occasionally relieved by Music, Conversation, 
and experiments in Natural Philosophy." 

This mode of passing the evening was, he says, 
" attended with very satisfactory results. Mothers, 
ladies of taste and judgment, have, without solici- 
tation, honored the principal with their congratu- 
lations on the modest confidence of manners and 
the manly, elevated tone of conversation which, 
under this system, their sons had attained." 

The good work done and thorough instruction 
given at Rock Hill were subjects of public notoriety 
and approbation. Among his pupils were the sons 
and wards of eminent men in the Eastern cities. 
Among those who sent their sons to Rock Hill, may 
be mentioned: Judge Hopkinson, Hon. Alexander 
McKim, David Hoffman, Commodore Stewart, the 
Ellicotts, Dr. Hammond, Hon. John P. Kennedy. 
Many other names of families prominent in Mary- 
land society appear in his journal. For ten years 
Rock Hill Academy enjoyed a patronage and a 
reputation second to no other similar school in the 
country. Its success made for Mr. Sams an excel- 
lent reputation as a teacher throughout all that 
section of the country. The school and its princi- 
pal became well known in New York, and friends 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 37 

there often suggested his coming to that city and 
opening a similar school. 

While not in any way dissatisfied with his pros- 
pects in Maryland, he looked with a longing to this 
wider field for the exercise of his abilities. He 
made up his mind to remove to Brooklyn, and in 
the winter of 1834-35 advertised Rock Hill for sale. 
When his intention of leaving EUicott's Mills be- 
came known, many letters of regret poured in upon 
him from old pupils and friends. One of these, 
from Governor Howard, we give below. 

Waverly, Md., 28tli January, 1835. 
Isaac Sams, Esq., 

My Dear Sir: — Having heard with great regret that you have 
it in contemplation to remove to New York and having under- 
stood that it w^ould be agreeable to you to bear with you the testi- 
mony of some of those persons whose children have been under 
your care as to your qualifications as a preceptor and your char- 
acter as a man, I beg leave to offer my tribute as regards both. 
You, sir, came amongst us as an unknown stranger and the stand- 
ing you now hold amongst us would in itself, where the fact is 
known, be sufficient evidence of your worth. Throughout the 
long period of your sojourn here I have not heard the slightest 
imputation against your character as a virtuous citizen and an 
intelligent instructor and a good christian. Should you finally 
determine to leave the neighborhood, I hope most sincerely that 
you may succeed in all your undertakings and that your place 
here may be supplied by one as capable and meritorious as 
yourself. 

With sentiments of esteem and respect, I have the honor to be 
Your most obedient servant, 

Geoege Howard. 



38 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

The pupils of Rock Hill, finding he was going to 
leave their school, addressed him a paper filled with 
sentiments of love and respect and asked his accept- 
ance of a fine silver cup as a slight evidence of their 
good feelings towards him. 

His friends in Maryland parted with him with 
reluctance. Proceeding to New York he carried 
letters of introduction from the most prominent 
citizens of Mar3dand to equally eminent men in 
New York. These letters spoke of him in the high- 
est terms as a gentleman, a christian and a teacher. 
They were addressed to Chancellor Mathews, Wm. 
B. Astor, Washington Irving, Charles Augustus 
Davis, John B. Ogden, Bishop Onderdonk, Chancel- 
lor Kent, Gardiner Howland, Robert B. Mintern, 
Gen. Talmage, Dr. Milnor and others. 

The}^ were given him by Hon. John P. Kennedy, 
Judge Hopkinson, Governor Howard, John McTav- 
ish and other friends in Maryland. 

He went to Brooklyn in the early spring of 1835, 
and at once presented his letters and made arrange- 
ments for opening his school. He obtained suitable 
buildings and issued his prospectus in which he 
states the object of his school was to provide a sound 
and thorough instruction for young gentlemen. 

The school was filled the first day with youths 
belonging to the best families of New York and 
Brooklyn. A very successful beginning was made 
and for a short time the school was very prosperous. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 39 

In the midst of the most pleasing prospects Mr. 
Sams was taken sick and his health utterly failed. 
He was forced to abandon his enterprise, which 
promised the grandest results. That he was com- 
pelled to withdraw from his school was no less a 
matter of regret to his patrons than to himself. In 
the short time he had been in Brooklyn he had 
become known as an able teacher, and his energies 
would have been taxed to the fullest extent in this 
more extended field of labor. It was doubtless the 
extra work and strain he took upon himself that 
caused the failure of his health. 

He had exchanged his property at Ellicott's Mills 
for a tract of land of 1,000 acress near Hillsboro, 
Highland county, Ohio. Thomas and Nathaniel 
Ellicott, with whom he made this exchange, had 
been among his w^armest friends in Maryland. 
They had been very kind to him when he first went 
to Rock Hill, and to the day of his death he retain- 
ed the warmest feelings of friendship for them. He 
often said they were two of the truest and noblest, 
men he had ever knowm. 



40 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Professor Sams now determined to remove to Ohio 
and try to regain his lost health. To accomplish 
this he proposed to clear out and bring into market 
a portion of his tract of wild land. Accordingly 
he started for Hillsboro, Ohio, where he arrived on 
the 5th of Septemxber, 1835. He had resolved, much 
as he loved the work, not to enter the school room 
again until his health should be fully restored. For 
the next few years he occupied himself on his land 
performing as well as his strength and health per- 
mitted the labors of a pioneer farmer. His reputa- 
tion as a teacher had preceded him and he was often 
consulted on educational matters by those having 
them in charge. He soon became very much inter- 
ested in the Common Schools of Ohio, which for ten 
years before had been slowly but gradually improv- 
ing. In the year 1838 they were still very imper- 
fect. The teachers were carelessly and superficiall}^ 
examined, and the youth were loosely taught. In 
the year above mentioned the legislature passed a 
law for the appointment of County Boards of School 
Examiners by the Court of Common Pleas. 

By virtue of this law Mr. Sams was appointed 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 41 

School Examiner and at once adopted a fixed method 
of strict examination of applicants for certificates. 
By adhering strictly to his rules he soon brought it 
about that Highland county had a better qualified 
corps of teachers than any other county in Southern 
Ohio. 

His examinations were a terror to inefiicient and 
poorly qualified teachers, but he gave true merit 
and good scholarship the fullest recognition. Many 
of the teachers in that day were possessed of but 
limited acquirements. Certificates had often to be 
given to this class or else the schools would not have 
been supplied with teachers. These were always 
admonished by Mr. Sams to make a better showing 
the next time they came before the Board. 

He insisted on some things even in this day not 
alwaj^s required in the teacher. One of these was 
personal cleanliness of hands, face, and apparel. 
Applicants who came with dirty hands were dis- 
missed with a short lecture on the virtues of soap 
and water. An instance is recorded in the School 
Examiners' Journal of his dismissing a young man 
from the examination room on account of his filthy 
linen and the effluvia arising from his body. 

Great pressure was sometimes made to have cer- 
tificates issued to persons whom he deemed really 
incompetent. Yielding to importunities of this 
kind, he issued a certificate to a certain party and 
recorded that he "had been examined and found 



42 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

barely qualified to teach for three months in the 
swamp Common Schools of Highland county." 

The good results that accrued to the cause of edu- 
cation through Mr. Sams' method of examination 
cannot be over-estimated. Although there were 
generally two other members of the Board, Mr. Sams 
was the examiner. He did most of the work, and it 
was always to him " a labor of love." Complaints 
were often made of the strictness of his examin- 
ations, but the results generally vindicated the wis- 
dom and justice of his course. He served almost 
uninterruptedly as examiner for thirty years, and 
his services are gratefully remembered by all friends 
of education in Highland county. 

As early as 1840, Mr. Sams began to agitate the 
question of a County Society of Teachers, and 
through his influence was formed an Association 
of Teachers of Highland county, which has contin- 
ued in activity and usefulness to the present day. 

He was also instrumental in having the first 
Teachers' Institute held in this county in the year 
1853. 

Mr. Sams took a deep interest in educational 
matters, not only in Highland county, but in the 
entire State. While in his early years of service as 
Examiner, he addressed a memorial to Governor 
Corwin on the subject of school libraries. This was 
an ably written paper and was received and favor- 
ably considered by the authorities at the capital. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 43 

A few years afterward the school Library law was 
passed, the first suggestion of which came from Mr. 
Sams. 

He was also an active member of the State Asso- 
ciation of teachers, and was elected its president for 
1851. The meeting of the association for that year 
was held at Columbus, December 31st, 1851, and 
January 1st, 1852. The most important business 
transacted was the reception of the report of the 
committee previously appointed, recommending the 
establishment of an educational paper as the organ 
of the association. The report was adopted and Mr. 
Sams took an active part in putting the enterprise 
on a firm foundation. Accordingly in January, 1852, 
was issued the first number of the Ohio Journal of 
Education, now the Ohio Educational Monthly and 
National Teacher. He also took a prominent part 
in the discussion of other important questions 
brought before the association at that early day. 



44 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

For several years previous to Mr. Sams' coming to 
Hillsboro, an academy had been in existence in the 
village. It had been under the charge of different 
Principals, but owing to the lack of proper accom- 
modations had not accomplished fully the ends 
desired by its founders. A donation of land having 
been received by the trustees they resolved to pur- 
chase ground and erect a commodious building. 

Accordingly thirteen acres of land were pur- 
chased north of town, and a handsome brick build- 
ing erected upon it. On its completion, the trustees 
invited Mr. Sams to take charge of the Academy. 
Nothing had been provided except the necessary 
school rooms, and Mr. Sams urged the erection of a 
suitable building for the principal and teachers, and 
for a boarding house for pupils. Owing to a lack of 
funds, this was not done. 

Under Mr. Sams the academy prospered for the 
following six years. It afforded excellent opportuni- 
ties to the young men of the town and vicinity to 
obtain a good business education, or to prepare for 
college. It attracted a number of students from 
adjoining counties and elsewhere, who boarded in 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 45 

town and attended the school. The school was par- 
ticularly noted for the thoroughness with which the 
classics were taught. 

Mr. Sams was thorough in his teaching and inde- 
fatigable in his efforts to advance the interests of 
the school. His work was done, however, under 
some discouragements, and he was never able to 
make the school just what he wished it to be. It 
was his desire that it should be a boarding school 
for boys on the plan of his famous Rock Hill Aca- 
demy. Seeing no prospect of the erection of the 
additional buildings he deemed necessary to its com- 
plete success, he, in March, 1851, tendered to the 
board of trustees his resignation as principal. The 
board, in accepting his resignation, say: ''The trus- 
tees have seen with sympathy your unwearied 
efforts to sustain a school of high character under 
difficulties which they could not remove, and they 
still find it impossible to say when they can afford 
those facilities which they agree with you in 
thinking so necessary to the success of the institu- 
tion. . >i^ * * * * * Under these 
circumstances your resignation is accepted, and in 
parting with you we desire to express our high 
appreciation of your profound scholarship and 
unwearied devotion to your duties as a teacher. 

''Your indefatigable efforts in the cause of educa- 
tion are too well understood in this community to 
need remarks, and for the influence you have 



46 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

exerted by the thorough education of so many of our 
young men, and by your labor to elevate the stand- 
ard of education in Highland county generally, the 
public owe you the highest gratitude." 

This letter was signed by all of the trustees, then 
leading men in educational matters in the town. 

The severance of the connection of Professor Sams 
(by which title he was now known, and which no 
one better deserved), with the academy, was a mat- 
ter of great regret in the community. 

In the following four chapters we give some remi- 
niscences of the old academy, written by an ''old 
boy," the Hon. John W. Steel, now of Minnesota. 
They will be found interesting to the general reader, 
and doubly so, to every pupil of the old academy. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 47 



CHAPTER X. 

On a bright autumn morning in the year 1846, 
the writer of this, then a lad of thirteen, with a 
shining school-boy face, began his pupilage with 
the now lamented Professor Isaac Sams. The 
Hillsboro Academy, although it had nominally 
existed prior to that time, had never before possessed 
a suitable building. By the efforts of a few friends 
of education, a large, and for that time and locality, 
a handsome brick structure had been erected on a 
slight eminence on the northerly verge of the village. 

A knot of fifteen or twenty boys assembled on 
that opening-day in the basement of the new build- 
ing, as that was the only portion tenantable. We 
gathered around the stove, discussing as boys are 
wont to do, the probable characteristics of our new 
teacher. Most of us had seen him as he strode 
through our streets, erect and with an imposing 
carriage, and it was whispered from one to another 
that he was awful savage. As the custom of flog- 
ging was still in vogue, we about made up our minds 
that we would '' catch it " if we were not uncom- 
monly careful.. While exchanging our views on the 
subject the cry was raised "here he comes," and 



48 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

looking out of the windows we beheld, him whom, 
in our lack of veneration, we had dared to call " Old 
Isaac," riding up on a small dun horse. He was 
clad in a long white great coat, buckled around his 
Avaist with a surcingle and " covered as to his head " 
with a huge fur cap. Soon the door opened and 
Mr. Sams entered, holding in his right hand a short 
cowhide whip which projected straight before him 
and, with a military salute he marched across the 
room into another apartment where he disposed of 
his Avrappings. Soon returning he held some con- 
sultations with a few of the parents who were pres- 
ent and then commenced business. 

" Young gentlemen," he began — we looked round 
to see whom he was addressing, for we had never 
been so flattered before, and as we saw none to whom 
he could be talking but ourselves, we each straight- 
ened up about a foot, more or less, and began to 
think he was a pretty nice old gentleman after all. 

"All hands attention!" he proceeded, ''Come 
forward, and matriculate." We gazed at each other 
dumbly. What he wished us to do we could not 
imagine for " matriculate " was a word that was not 
yet introduced into our limited vocabulary. How- 
ever, he called up one of our number. Will McDowell 
(afterwards a talented judge in Kansas) entered his 
name, and then proceeded to enroll each in his 
turn, with a turkey-quill pen which he manu- 
factured in our presence by about three clips of an 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 49 

immense pruning knife which he waved in the air 
like a saber. To us, the whole scene was indescriba- 
bly funn}^ although my fun was mingled with not 
a little fear and trembling. Soon my turn came. 
He pulled down his skull-cap with his left hand 
and raising his turkey-quill in his right, as though 
about to stab me with it, looked at me as I thought 
fiercely, and said in an interrogative tone " Name?" 
I informed him. "Age " also answered. " Tell me 
how many are 16 times 16, quick, quick T'' fairly 
shrieking the last word. I giggled. " Ah," said he, 
" I see, mercurial, frivolous, but, my dear boy, we will 
do better bye-and-bye, yes, we will improve." 

Soon his roll was finished and I can never forget 
when he called over McDowell, Steel, We ver, Kibler, 
etc., and assigned to us our various tasks. 

Let me here say that no one who was not 
acquainted with the whole manner, appearance, 
pronunciation, and peculiarities of Professor Sams, 
can appreciate him from anything Avhich can be 
written concerning him. 

My purpose is sim23ly to relate a few incidents 
which occurred during his administration, which, 
w^iile they show some of the eccentricities of this 
noble-hearted gentleman, yet may serve feebly to 
illustrate his mode of teaching and governing, a 
mode so utterly in contrast with that then in vogue, 
and so contrary to all of our preconceived notions, 
yet if we judge by its results, so beneficial to those 



50 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

intrusted to his care. I call it a "mode," for it was 
not a system, or if a system, was one that varied 
with each pupil and each recurring circumstance. 
Professor Sams could not run in the groove with 
other instructors. He was a man sui generis, and if 
some of his sayings appeared to many to border on 
the ridiculous, yet no teacher, we believe, could ever 
point to a greater number of his pupils who have 
lived lives of usefulness, or who have achieved 
higher distinction in their various fields of effort. 
Most of those who have "amounted to much," as 
the phrase goes, will say to-day, if living, that to his 
earnest labor, thorough training and splendid 
example of what constitutes true manhood, they are 
principally indebted for all they are, that is worth 
being. Indeed, the great trouble one finds in 
endeavoring to sketch him as he was, is that even 
the most modest presentation of the truth con- 
cerning his merits must appear to strangers, fulsome 
eulogy. Of course, at this distant period I can not 
pretend to relate events in their chronological order, 
but purpose only to narrate some incidents that 
occurred at various times illustrative not only of the 
eccentricities of the gifted man, but of this thorough 
method of instruction. They will show his hatred 
of hypocrisy and shame, his love of truth and 
honor, his detestation of tyranny and oppression, 
and his delight in hearing of the success of his 
pupils in after-life. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 51 



CHAPTER XI. 

For a day or two after our first session commenced 
we kept rather quiet, studying the disposition of 
our new instructor, and occasionally experimenting 
a little to see whether he was as terrible as rumor 
had represented him. He made no "rules," but 
seemed to leave each of us to be a law unto himself, 
and soon we began to think we had fine times. 
Instead of having to ask permission to leave the 
room, or to speak to each other in study hours, we 
were allowed to go out into the beautiful grove that 
surrounded the academy, at will. In summer, it was 
no uncommon sight to the wondering farmer, who 
passed that way, to behold half of the entire school 
out at once. Some were in the branches of the trees, 
with their text books in hand, others down b}^ the 
Jackson Spring, and others still, engaged in the soul- 
inspiring, if not intellectual, occupation of fishing, 
with grab-hooks for the yellow-breasted frogs which 
rendered vocal the pond formed by quarrying rock 
for the new building. This pond was a popular 
resort for those of us who preferred frog-fishing, or 
skating in its season, or rafting across its raging 
waters, to storing our youthful minds with the 
problems of Euclid or 'the Odes of Horace. 



52 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

We thought we were " in clover," when contrast- 
ing our happy lot with our former experience in the 
public schools where daily floggings on the Spen- 
cerian system (the heavy strokes down and the light 
ones up) had been our portion, or in comparison with 
the halcyon days of childhood, when Aunt Polly 
Herron (honor be to her memory), mingled her 
doses of Alphabet Primer and the Shorter Catechism 
with " Phillips," kisses, and chidings in about equal 
quantities. Matters run thus smoothly for a fort- 
night, when on one memorable afternoon a few of 
the older pupils were cosily seated around the stove 
in chairs, chatting merrily, while the Professor was 
busy at the blackboard. Suddenly, as a clap of 
thunder from a summer sky, came a shout — "To 
your seats, ye Arabs ! " and at the same instant we 
beheld the' towering form of our hitherto mild tutor 
advancing toward us with outstretched hands, his 
eyes flashing, and his whole demeanor terrible. 
"Ye vandals, disperse!" he again roared, and jou 
may be assured we did disperse to our several seats, 
nor stood upon the order of our going. Then seizing 
the chairs one by one, he threw them in the corner, 
while cowering at our desks we listened to a 
harangue more forcible than agreeable. 

This episode checked us for awhile, but we soon 
discovered that it was only an episode, and that 
while in his simulated wrath he would call us terri- 
ble names, that he loved each of us in his heart and 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 



53 



would no more have injured us than would artender 
mother hurt her infant child. 

When I reflect upon our manifold transgressions 
and provocations, I wonder how he could have kept 
his temper as calm as he usually did, for a more 
mischievous, tantalizing and dare-devil knot of boys 
I think never got together at any other school. And 
yet there were few of us who would have intention- 
ally grieved the dear gentlemen, for we truly loved 
him while annoying him by our follies. 

Another amusing incident resulted from the out- 
break just recorded. A youth called Lew made his 
appearance a few mornings after we had been dis- 
persed as aforesaid, intending to enter the institu- 
tion. He had heard some exaggerated reports of 
Professor Sams' fierceness, and was evidently rather 
reluctant to venture his precious carcass within 
reach of the imagined danger. As we stood around 
the stove, awaiting the Professor's arrival, some of 
us began to relate frightful stories of the fierce and 
fiery temper of our teacher, stating among other 
things, that it was reported that he had to leave 
Maryland for breaking one pupil's leg, and putting 
out the eye of another, while in a passion. 

One after another added his testimony to the 
awful dangers attendant on being under his charge, 
and before long we saw that Lew was becoming 
exceedingly nervous. We then gravely told him 
that every new scholar was soundly cowhided the 



54 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

first day, so that Professor Sams could ascertain 
exactly how much flogging he could safely endure. 
As if to corroborate this *' roorback " the Professor at 
that moment entered, accoutred as usual, after his 
ride, with his rawhide in hand. As he passed us he 
noticed poor Lew, who was trying to hide behind 
our group, and perceiving that he was a new acquisi- 
tion, naturally wished to get his name and inform 
him as to his duties. Tapping Lew gentl}^ on the 
shoulder with his whip, he beckoned toward the 
back room where he disposed of his wrappings, and 
in his curt fashion, said: "Ah, new boy — new boy — 
hither." " Now you are going to catch it," we whis- 
pered, when the thoroughly frightened Lew, to the 
amazement of Mr. Sams, but to our intense delight, 
took to his heels, bounded like a deer out of the door 
and fled to his home, "tarrying not in all the plain, 
nor looking once behind him." 

His father brought him back the next morning 
and he managed to remain with us for awhile with- 
out losing any of his members, but I do not think 
Professor Sams ever considered him entirely compos 
mentis afterwards. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 55 



CHAPTER XII. 

We soon found that thoroughness was a sine qua 
non with our principal. No smattering, no parrot- 
like repeating of the text, no skimming, was per- 
mitted. He cared little for the amount '' gone over " 
or how many books we had " gone through," the 
question with him was, whether we thoroughly 
understood what we attempted to recite. 

Nor was he satisfied unless we could give the 
reason for everything ; how we knew a thing was so, 
and why we were certain that we did know it. He 
never wished us to go a step further in any study 
than we were well-prepared for going. Like a wise 
builder he laid his foundations upon rock, for he 
well knew that an education founded on anything 
less than a perfect comprehension of the rudiments, 
like an edifice reared upon sand must come toppling 
down when the winds and waves of life blow and 
beat upon it. 

"Give us the law!" was his constant demand of 
us when construing a sentence in the classics, and 
if we failed to give the law, " to the grammar, go ! " 
was his stentorian cry that made us quake like 
aspens. When he recalled us we generally knew 



56 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

not only the law, but why it was the law, nor did 
we soon forget it. I remember his keeping me for 
two weeks upon a single verse of the New Testa- 
ment in Greek, and I can this day repeat and parse 
every word of it, although it is very little that I do 
remember of what I was taught after leaving his 
tuition. 

As an illustration of the good results of this sort 
of training, it is a fact, so far as I have been able to 
learn, that every one of his pupils upon entering 
college at once took a high stand in their classes, 
especially in the languages. Even those of us who 
made little pretense to close application to study, 
stood far above the average, because we could not 
help it, owing to the elementary training he had 
given us. 

I well remember when the writer, in company 
with the beloved and lamented Samuel Hibben was 
examined with fifty others, as an applicant for 
admission to the Junior class at Miami University. 
We did not sit together nor were we personally 
known to the Examiner, yet out of all that number 
we two were requested to remain, and the Examiner 
(the now distinguished Professor Moflfatt, of Prince- 
ton, N. J.,) said that he desired to know who had 
been our instructor. When we had informed him, 
he remarked that he wished they had the time 
to give such thorough training in college and 
that he should like to make the acquaintance 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 57 

of Professor Sams. I mention this, not to boast 
of myself, for I regret to say that I rather retro- 
graded than improved afterwards, unlike my dear 
friend Hibben, who nobly built upon the sure intel- 
lectual foundation Professor Sams had laid for him, 
and what is better, builded the temple of a pure 
and holy life upon a still firmer foundation — the 
Rock of Ages. 

But to return to the Academy. Notwithstanding 
the fact that Mr. Sams' peculiar method of impress- 
ing his instructions upon us may seem ridiculous to 
those who knew him not, it was so forcible that we 
have never forgotten and never shall forget his 
lessons. 

I recollect when one morning a young gentleman 
(now a well-known physician, and whom we will 
call Johnson, because that is not his name), was 
called upon to translate a portion of one of Cicero's 
orations. Being a modest youth and not a little in 
awe of the Professor, he read the first sentence in a 
low, timid manner, and in a monotonous tone. Mr. 
Sams threw himself into a dramatic attitude and 
shouted: "Stop, Johnson, stop! Imagine Cicero 
standing bold and erect in the Roman Senate ! Do 
you suppose he would squeak" (mimicking Johnson's 
voice and manner), " Quosque tandem abutere nostra 
patientia Catalina? No, Johnson, no; he would 
exclaim" (raising his voice to a thunder tone): 
"Quosque tandem abutere nostra patientia 



58 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

Catalina!" rolling the "r's" and giving the "a's" 
the longest sound possible. He must have been seen 
and heard to be appreciated. 

While the classics were Professor Sams' forte, yet 
his mathematical attainments were also of the 
highest order. Indeed, his mind seemed to embrace 
all kinds of learning, and he appeared at home in 
every department of science. 

At that day little or no attention was paid to 
Mental Arithmetic, but the Professor was determined 
that we should learn to think and not merely to do 
our sums, as we called it, by the rules laid down in 
the book. The multiplication table up to 100 
seemed to be at his tongue's end, and he often 
startled us by asking some such question as 29 
times 37, or, 18 times 14; "quick, quick ! " he would 
cry when, of course, we were unable to answer cor- 
rectly without a little time to reflect. But we 
acquired the habit of thinking quickly and of 
depending upon our reasoning powers instead of 
being confined to our text books. 

Professor Sams often seemed troubled at our want 
of appreciation of our educational advantages, and 
at the time we wasted in frivolity. On one occasion 
a party of the boys came late to school, having been 
enticed away from the grounds to witness the 
slaughter of certain beeves by a butcher in the 
vicinity. One of the boys, now a judge upon the 
Bench, was called up to account for his tardiness. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 59 

He informed Professor Sams that they had been at 
the slaughter-house. 

"My God!" exclaimed he in tones that might 
have waked the dead, "can I believe my ears? 
What, leave the halls and porticos of learning to 
revel in the shambles of the butcher ! Fie on you, 
for shame." It is safe to conclude that young man 
was never known to so revel again. 



60 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Professor Sams earnestly endeavored to inculcate 
manliness. I do not know whether schoolboys 
now-a-days indulge in fisticuffs as much as we did, 
but there was scarcely a noon or recess passed with- 
out a personal combat between us. Many blamed 
Mr. Sams for not putting a stop to this, but whether 
he knew it or not he seldom interfered with or 
rebuked this pugnacious propensity. I think he 
wished us to be self-reliant and to learn to take our 
own parts, for we noticed that whenever a large 
pupil bullied a smaller one, the old gentleman was 
pretty sure to know of it, and to administer a fitting 
rebuke. But a fair and square, stand up and knock 
down between physical equals, never seemed to 
attract his attention in the least. An incident 
occurred one day, while school was in session, that 
will show his peculiar manner of treating such 
things. 

There was one of our number who was a noted 
bully over his weaker fellows, and as is usually the 
case, was a coward. I will call him Jones. He had 
been in the habit of cuffing and otherwise persecut- 
ing a little fellow whom we will designate as Brown. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 61 

The latter had patiently endured Jones' persecu- 
tion for a long time. One day while the Professor 
was busy at the blackboard, Jones began as usual to 
torment little Brown, who sat just in front of him. 
Our desks were furnished with very large and heavy 
glass inkstands, and finally. Brown, provoked beyond 
endurance, seized one of these, full of ink, and threw 
it with all his force, striking Jones square in the 
forehead, cutting quite a gash. The heavy missile 
rolled and reverberated over the floor, when Profes- 
sor Sams wheeled suddenly around, just in time to 
see Brown's arm yet extended, and the commingled 
blood and ink trickling down Jones' face in black 
and red stripes. We all looked aghast, expecting a 
furious scene, and poor little Brown sank back into 
his seat, pale with terror and supposing his last day 
had come. The Professor gazed at them a moment, 
and then said in a low, gentle voice : "Jones, your 
face is dirty — go wash your face. Brown, pick up 
the inkstand, don't waste the ink," and then turned 
to his work as calmly as if nothing had occurred to 
interrupt it. In his heart, he was doubtless glad 
that Jones had met his deserts. 

Only on one or two occasions was corporeal pun- 
ishment ever resorted to at the academy, and then 
it was rather threatened than administered, the 
culprit being let off" just as he supposed he was to be 
skinned alive. The Professor was as peculiar at 
these times as ever. He sung out in the tone of a 



62 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

boatswain on board ship: "All hands put away 
books, and prepare to witness punishment," and 
then he stalked majestically to and fro between the 
rows of desks, never deigning once to glance at the 
intended victim, and causing each one of us to 
inquire, " Is it I ? " then suddenly he would stop 
and "about face" in front of the criminal and 
pointing with his long index finger; would say: 
" Hither, boy, hither." He would then take the 
unhappy youth by two or three hairs of the forelock 
seized between finger and thumb, and would lead 
him around the room once or twice, and then halt- 
ing him, would proceed with a lecture not easily 
to be forgotten, either by its recipient or the look- 
ers-on. 

But he must have been a poor disciplinarian, you 
are ready to exclaim. Well, it is true that his prac- 
tice was contrary to all commonly received theories 
of school discipline, but after all, one word from him 
was more effectual with us than all the whipping 
we had ever received at the public schools, and 
judging by results, it was not a failure. His pupils 
progressed better in their studies and became just 
as good, useful, and honorable men as those of any 
other educational establishment with which I have 
been acquainted. 

With all his seeming vagaries in government, he 
managed, both by example and precept, to instill 
into the minds of most of us a regard for truth. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 63 

honor, and justice, and taught us to despise hypoc- 
risy and meanness of every kind. 

Whenever we have failed in after life to be all 
that could be desired, it was through no fault of his. 
Even the worst of us would have been worse if we 
had never been under his training. While some 
of us, whom he styled " mercurial," could not help 
laughing at his oddities, we all loved and respected 
him, and at this far distant time still revere his 
memory. 

While he loved to encourage his pupils and to 
imbue them with proper self-respect, he quickly per- 
ceived the fact whenever any of them became self- 
conceited, and no one could better take down any 
superabundance of egotism than he. Of course we 
were at the age when we had a tolerably comfortable 
opinion of ourselves, and, perhaps, displayed the 
fact in our actions. As illustrating his method of 
checking this propensity, the writer will never for- 
get the last interview between Mr. Sams and him- 
self, as teacher and jDupil. 

After having enjoyed the advantages of the Acad- 
em}^ for several years it was thought best by my 
friends to send me to college. I had an idea that 
going to college was rather a great thing, and felt 
somewhat self-important at the prospect. 

On the Friday of the week before I expected to 
leave, I thought I ought to bid the Professor good- 
bye, and at the same time felt not a little proud of 



64 PEOFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

the announcement I was about to make to him. I 
thought that it would perhaps raise me in his 
estimation, and that he would prophesy scholastic 
and literary honors for me, flattering to my soul. 
Doubtless I showed something of this in my manner 
as I approached him just before the close of school, 
and holding out my hand informed him that as that 
was probabl}^ the last day I would be under his 
charge, I wished to say " farewell." He raised his 
closed eyelids in a fashion peculiarly his own, then 
suddenly ejaculated in his sharp, incisive way : 
"Ah, last day; where are you going? where are you 
going ? " " To college," I rather pompously replied. 
" Colle-g-e. What are you going to do at college ? " 
This puzzled me a little, but I answered hesita- 
tingly : " To learn, I suppose." 

He burst out : " Ha ! ha ! Going to learn, glad to 
hear it, time to commence, boy. Ha ! ha ! ha ! he 's 
going to learn. My dear child, you rejoice my heart. 
Here you have been for years, surrounded by all the 
appliances to a liberal education, but you have been 
light-minded, mercurial, frivolous, like a cock on a 
dunghill, you have scratched away the pearls ; but 
now I am happy to know (here whispering as if to 
himself) he 's going to learn." 

I left him after a few very kind words, which 
allayed my mortification somewhat, an humbler if 
not a wiser boy. Yet never was there a preceptor 
who took more interest in the career of his pupils 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 65 

after they left him, or felt greater pride at the suc- 
cess or distinction to which any of them attained 
in after life. 

After spending some time at college, I was at 
home spending the vacation. An old schoolmate at 

the academy, Will McR , who had also been 

away at college, proposed to me that we should call 
and pay our respects to our old friend and teacher. 
So one fine morning we walked out to his residence, 
and having been invited to enter, we sat down and 
awaited the appearance of Professor Sams. Our 
interview was characteristic of his original manner 
of dealing with us. 

In a few minutes he came bounding into the 
room with the agility and vivacity of a lad of six- 
teen. He extended to us two fingers of each hand 
(he usually shook hands with one finger), exclaimed 
"my dear boys, I am glad to see you!" and then 
leaped upon a lounge, crossed his legs a la Turk, his 
long " toga " girded by a surcingle, and a skull cap 
perched upon his head. 

Of course we expected he would ask us the usual 
questions concerning our health or our college 
career, but the first words he uttered, addressing 

himself to Will, were : " McR , tell us about the 

currency, the effect of the influx of California gold 
upon the currency." Poor Mac, struggling to sup- 
press his laughter, stammered out confusedly that 
he did not know much about the subject. " What, 



66 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

been to college and can't tell us about the cur- 
rency ! " Of course this tickled me immensely, as I 
thought what a good joke I had on my companion. 
But my mirth was of short duration, for, wheeling 

around toward me, he said : " S , tell us about 

the currency." I could only murmur that I had 
seen so little of it that I could tell nothing about it. 
*' Ah," said he, "light-minded and frivolous as ever, 
been to college and can 't tell us about the currency. 
Well, I '11 tell you. 

Thereupon, he proceeded for about fifteen minutes 
to deliver a most philosophical and instructive dis- 
course, expressed in chaste and beautiful language, 
showing the probable results of the discovery of gold 
in California upon the material, scientific, religious, 
and literary interests of the world. It was really a 
grand lecture upon one phase of political economy. 
We forgot any feeling of amusement in absorbing 
interest in his treatment of the theme, and felt as 
the pupils of the ancient Greek philosophers must 
have done while drinking draughts of wisdom in 
the academic groves of Athens or Sparta. Abruptly, 

however, he broke off, with : "Comprehend, McR , 

comprehend ? " " Perfectly," replied Mac, boldly. 
"Then tell me what I said," commanded the Pro- 
fessor. Again I rejoiced in my heart to see my jovial 
young friend completely nonplussed. But the tables 
were quickly turned on me by the same question : 
"Comprehend, S , comprehend?" 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 67 

Fearing to be caught in the same way, I an- 
swered that I thought I hardly understood the sub- 
ject well enough to attempt to repeat what I had 
heard. "Phoebus!" he roared, "been to colle-g-e 
and can 't understand a simple theme like this. 
"Well, well, my dear boys, perhaps it isn't your 
fault." As the shortest way of getting out of our di- 
lemma we rose to take our departure. The Professor 
hopped nimbly down from his couch, again extended 
his two fingers, and asked us if " we would stay and 
help eat a goose ? " which we understood as an invi- 
tation to dinner, but being conscientiously opposed 
to committing cannibalism, we declined to partake 
of his kindly offered repast, and bade him " good 
morning." Neither of us ever said college to him 
again. 

In conclusion, I can only say, that notwith- 
standing his harmless eccentricities, he was a ripe 
scholar and a pure-minded, noble-hearted man who 
taught from love of teaching, and in whose crown 
of rejoicing will sj^arkle many bright jewels — the 
names of scores of his pupils who have risen to 
places of honor in the land, and have lived lives of 
usefulness. 

He has passed to his reward, but his memor}^ will 
ever be green in our hearts and his grave a Mecca 
which his living pupils will delight to visit, not 
more to mourn his loss than to rejoice that his 



68 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

labors having ended on earth, he has gone up 
higher to a haven of eternal rest. As a good citi- 
zen, a true patriot, a kind Instructor, and a bene- 
factor of his race, take him all in all, we ne'er shall 
look upon his like again. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 



69 



CHAPTER XIV. 

We resume the thread of our narrative. After 
leaving the Academy, Mr. Sams was solicited, by a 
number of citizens, to receive their sons as private 
pupils at his house. He received a limited number 
of young men, and spent the next two years in pre- 
paring them for college. 

His interest in the Common Schools had never 
wavered, and in 1851 he called the attention of the 
people of Hillsboro to the benefit likely to accrue 
to the youth by the adoption of the plan of the law 
of 1849, authorizing Graded Schools. After some dis- 
cussion it was resolved by popular vote to organize 
the schools under this law. This result was due, in 
a great degree, to the exertion of Professor Sams. 

'fhe Union Schools were opened soon afterward, 
and in 1853 the use of the Academy building was 
obtained for the accommodation of the higher grades 
of the schools. On the opening of the schools in 
1853, Professor Sams was employed to teach the 
Ancient Languages and Higher Mathematics. He 
continued in this position until 1856, when he was 
elected Superintendent of the Schools. He remained 
in charge of the schools for two years. He was now 



70 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

in his seventieth year, and feeling need of rest, he 
retired from the Union Schools and again received 
a few pupils at his residence. 

During his years of service in the Academy and 
the Union Schools he had been a member of the 
Board of Examiners and had not in the least re- 
mitted his labors in that connection. At the same 
time he took great interest in everything looking to 
the educational interests of the people. 

He frequently lectured before a public Lyceum in 
existence during the same years. Several of "these 
lectures attracted a great deal of notice, not only on 
account of their original views, but as they evinced 
great study and research. Amongst these were lec- 
tures on "War," ''Novel Reading," and "Ancestry." 

Although generally absorbed in educational mat- 
ters. Professor Sams took a deep interest in all politi- 
cal matters affecting the welfare of the country. 
He was deeply interested in the result of the civil 
war of the rebellion, and rejoiced when it ended in 
the salvation of the American Union. He intruded 
his views on none, but never hesitated to avow them 
U]3on all proper occasions. 

He had great admiration for the American sol- 
diery, and since the war always made it a point to 
be present at the ceremonies on Decoration Day. 
When in his 85th year he fell in on foot with 
the soldiers and marched through the heat and dust 
to each of the cemeteries and participated in the 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 71 

exercises. He also attended the exercises in 1878 
when in his 90th year. Assigning as a reason his 
great age, he, in November, 1867, resigned his posi- 
tion as School Examiner. The Probate Judge, in 
accepting his resignation, said in a letter to him : — 
" I take this opportunity to tender you my own and 
the thanks of the public for your valuable services 
and the establishment of a fitting standard of quali- 
fication for the teachers of our county." 

During the remaining years of his life Professor 
Sams withdrew from public employment and spent 
his time in the retirement of his home. A few 
years after the death of his first wife in 1865, he 
married again. His second wife, Anne M. Mercer, 
had been a friend of himself and family for many 
years before. She made him a loving and faithful 
companion during the closing years of his life, and 
surviving him, keeps green his memory. 

Professor Sams had always enjoyed letter writing, 
and in this, displayed the same ability he did in 
other literar}^ matters. In 1872, a young lady of 
Hillsboro, whom he had known from childhood, 
went to India as a missionary. He carried on with 
her for some time a very interesting correspondence. 

These letters not only show how thorough a 
knowledge he had of India, but reflect his religious 
views very plainly. We give some extracts from 
two of these letters : 

" In regard to India, England has done much. 



72 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

and is doing much, but every step she has taken 
has been bitterly opposed by the native prejudices, 
and obstructed by the incessant wars waged against 
her growing supremacy by the jealousy of the 
native princes. India was besides, after the victory 
of Blassey, governed by a company of merchants 
who thought more of their own profit than of the 
moral or intellectual improvement of the natives. 
But since the Queen has assumed the Sovereignty, 
only fourteen years ago, there is promise of greater 
amelioration than ever before. 

" With regard to missionary work, I have seen in 
LitteWs Living Age a very remarkable paper taken 
from Fraser^s Magazine, which, after exhibiting a 
great number of decided failures, shows how, in the 
opinion of the writer, success may be attained, not 
only in mission work but in the ultimate universal 
acceptance of the religion of Christ. 

"Having now an opportunity of commingling 
with many classes of people, you will thus be able 
to observe how largely God has endued the human 
heart with good, and how, mainly, the views of men 
spring from prejudice and ignorance. Your Cal- 
cutta gentleman leans to Theism. That is so nat- 
ural, being the grand unique principle of the four, 
perhaps, but certainly of the three great religions 
of the earth, Judaism, Islamism, and Christianity. 
I must even believe that God is in the Heathen 
mind behind Buddah, Confucius, and Zoroaster. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 73 

*' But there need be no fear that Theism, pure 
and simple, will not in good time be sanctified by 
the acceptance of Christ and the blessed comforts of 
his promises, and the observance of his divine 
precepts. Have you spent any thoughts over the 
' Kismet ' you mentioned to me, the characteristic of 
of the ordinary Hindu's mind? As you see it, there 
it is, the common fatalism of all Asia, of the Turks 
who are Asiatic, as well, the idea of a power inferior 
to the Gods, arbitrarily determining all events with- 
out any interdependence among them. 

" The Greeks and Romans held this power as con- 
trolling the Gods. The Bible (Matth. xviii, 29.) 
teaches us that God is the disposer of events. 
Hence predestination, as it is in your church and 
the Church of England. You know, perhaps, better 
than I, what numerous volumes have been written 
on the subject of Freewill and Necessity. 

"In this doctrine, as taught in our churches, I 
am bound, as a good churchman, to believe. But as 
all God's providences are produced in a benevolent 
and salutary order, we may, without presumption, 
endeavor to trace the manner of that order. No 
way is safer in doing so than a careful and honest 
contemplation of the individual experience. In the 
course of my long life, I have, as you may suppose, 
passed through many crises, and have had to make 
critical decisions, some more or less wise, some very 
foolish, indeed. 



74 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

" Now, what I know, is this. I could not have 
acted otherwise than as I did act at the moment of 
each decision, being actuated or influenced by a 
variety of circumstances, facts, some of which, may 
be mentioned. 

" Hereditary organism, personal idiosyncrasies, 
my age and experience, and state of knowledge. 
The attractions on one side and repulsions on the 
other, each one of which was an invincible force. 
In fine, I think you will agree with me that there 
are serious limitations to what is called freedom 
of action. 

''No, the religion of Jesus must be sown in the 
heart and the conscience, and not compelled by 
sword or sceptre. Constantine did not proclaim the 
God of Israel was his God until a majority of his 
people had abandoned the Old Paganism and 
accepted the worship of Christ and the rule of His 
Gospel." 

In one of the letters of his correspondent some 
bad English she had heard, was alluded to. 

Mr. Sams, in his answer, says : 

"I will now tell you something that I think Mr. 
Taine did not. The Folk speech is not the educated 
language. It is the speech of provincialism, of 
patois as in France and Italy, but more so. Corn- 
w^all, in the Southwest, is of the Old British, as is 
Wales. Kent, Sussex and Devon are Anglo-Saxon, 
as are all the counties bordering on the Thames. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 75 

Lincoln, Suffolk and Norfolk, and other midland 
counties are Danish. In Cumberland are some 
remains of Romish speech, as of roads and fortifica- 
tions. 

" The Folk speech, besides, has not been touched 
until just now, perhaps, by the voice of education, 
and finally the feet of the folk cling to the sod 
most wonderfully. 

" The millions never leave the native haunts, and 
it thus happens that the Folk speech is variant, 
coarse and thick, and a source of wonder to many. 
But after all they are the sons of the men who won 
at Poictiers and Agincourt two of the most extraor- 
dinary victories in history." 

In another of his letters Professor Sams thus alludes 
to the arbitration of the Alabama Claims : 

"I think the decree of the Arbiters was just and 
reasonable, and the humiliation England has endured 
in the face of Christendom was but her due." 

On the subject of the education of women in 
India, and referring to a Mr. Chatterjea, a Hindoo 
Reformer, he says " that man may yet be an instru- 
ment of great good in bringing a new line of pro- 
gress to the consideration of her people. But it 
would be well he should know that he is at least a 
century before the age. He reaches after too much, 
not too much to hope for, but too much to make a 
public demand for. 

" The equality he wants for women in social and 



76 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

civil life can only come from their being educated 
and thus enabled to demand it for themselves. 
What has helped our women so much is that higher 
education they have received from the schools, the 
free press and the best elements of the society they 
move in. That good knowledge of their right gives 
courage and strength to their convictions, and they 
are triumphing gradually to the achievement of 
their ends. 

" Mr. Chatterjea should therefore work for educa- 
tion, giving thereto all his forces and setting forth 
nothing that is likely to prove rather an obstacle 
than a means to his success. On this account he is 
wise to work without any allusions whatever to 
religious opinions." 

We close these extracts with one from a long letter 
written September, 1877, when Mr. Sams was in his 
89th year. There is nothing in the handwriting or 
the language of the letter to indicate the great age 
of the writer. It shows the remarkable vigor of his 
intellect only a little more than a year before his 
death. He begins: 

" Two things are wonderful, with how scanty a 
provision of ideas the human creature can pass 
through life on the one hand, and on the other how 
vast in amount and how various in character is the 
knowledge which science places in the hands of the 
educator to disseminate among the generation that 
are now and are to come. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 77 

"With all, the question arises, whether the unlet- 
tered and untaught are less happy than are the 
others who have spent their days or years in trying 
to understand the relation of the phenomena of 
nature, of morals, and of mind. 

" About seventy years ago I read that beautiful 
poem, Gay's, " The Shepherd and the Philosopher," 
and to my boyish mind it clearly seemed that the 
worthy Shepherd showed a knowledge more exact 
and from it a wisdom and content, more productive 
of happiness, than wherewithal the grave Philoso- 
pher could assure him. 

" And to-day I envy the enjoyments of ' Leather 
stocking ' more than I do those of the Shah of 
Persia. Among the parks, and streams, and hills 
of Colorado may be found, I think, a life happier 
than that of Bismark with his foot on the neck of 
France, happier than the Archbishop of Canterbury 
with hundreds of his clergy praying that the con- 
fessions of the people may be made to them rather 
than to God ; happier than those Bourbons and 
Orleanses who are running about Europe in chase 
of a throne from which there is ho exit but through 
exile or the guillotine. 

" I hope, and trust and believe that you wdll 
triumph in your successful educating of the women 
of India. They will read and write the great 
universal language and will look with contempt 
and scorn upon their lowly neighbors. They will 
come into some sociality with a more intelligent 



78 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

class and will be assailed by all the envies and 
longings and rivalries and aspirations of that class 
only at last to find that while they have lost caste 
with their old friends they never can equalize 
themselves with the new. 

" But do not be alarmed, I am not coming over to 
the Punjaub to preach any such heterodox doctrines 
as these. Neither do I entertain the slightest doubt 
that gradually the efforts of education will be 
triumphant, and that the children of a not very 
distant Hindu generation will be in mind, if not 
in number, the ruling power of the Indian Penin- 
sula. 

" For it would be impossible that labors so persis- 
tent, so earnest, so judiciously applied and so noble 
in motive, should not in due time bear the happy 
fruits that are expected of them. 

" There is no work in the world so sure of return 
as that of the teacher if he be competent and honest. 
Nor is there a laborer in any field more likely to 
leave worthy successors to continue and enlarge his 
achievements. 

" Amid the drawbacks, the discouragements that 
fret us in the advancing march of our civilization 
there is consolation in the growing conviction of 
the world that there is no safety for society but in 
right education ; and in increasing numbers of wise 
and good men among the gatherers of this world's 
wealth who are constantly dispensing the means of 
extending the benefits of knowledge and culture 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 79 

not only to their nearer neighbors but to the most 
distant regions of the earth." 

In another letter speaking of Mathew Arnold's 
Literature and Dogmatism, he says : " Righteous- 
ness above all is what is insisted on. Righteousness 
is the life ; Dogma is in the thought. The life is the 
test. The mistake is in making dogma the test." 
Again he refers to what he calls that terrible article 
in Scribner, " Modern Skepticism." He says ; 
" Whatever man may doubt about, there will never 
be a doubt about Righteousness. What does the 
Lord demand of us but to ' do justly, to love mercy 
and to walk humbly with one God.' — Micah, vi, 8. 

" The religion of Christ, is, on that account, 
impregnable, eternal. The Sects may differ about 
'dogmata,' but the Church of Christ is founded on 
the doctrine of Righteousness." 

On the 22d of September, 1877, considering the 
evils to be contended with by those striving for the 
world's regeneration, he writes thus forcibly : 

"What can we do against all these evils? Almost 
nothing. Law and its penalties, Gospel and its min- 
istry, Education and its professors have been toiling 
for many centuries; and yet how imperfect are the 
results of it all. But still I feel God ruleth and 
ordereth all ; and I bow beneath His holy name 
and lay my wearied heart and humble faith as 
Christ has taught me, before the throne, and receive 
the ineffable blessing of that ' Peace of God which 
passeth all understanding ' as my final rest." 



80 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Throughout his long life, Professor Sams was a 
member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. We 
have seen the peculiar circumstances under which 
he partook of his first communion, when a poor and 
friendless boy at Rathdrum, Ireland. We remem- 
ber his reading the services of the church in the 
old log school house in Maryland. His zeal for his 
church grew as his years increased, and soon after 
his removal to Hillsboro he began to hope for the 
establishment of a branch of his church in that 
town. 

It was largely due to his efforts that some twenty- 
five years ago a congregation of the Episcopal 
Church was gathered together and a church erected 
in Hillsboro. He was always in his place in the 
church and was for twenty-five consecutive years 
the Senior Warden. 

He was always an advocate of the establishment 
of public libraries, and was greatly interested in 
the opening of a Free Reading Room and Library 
in Hillsboro. His last appearance in public was 
on the occasion of the inauguration of the Reading 
Room and Library in July, 1877. On that occasion 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 81 

he made a few remarks expressing his gratitude to 
God that he had lived long enough to see in Hills- 
boro what he had so wished for, a Free Public 
Library. He became a constant visitor to this 
library, and it was the last place he visited before 
he was attacked with his last illness. 

For thirty years previous to this time Professor 
Sams had enjoyed excellent health and a remarka- 
ble possession of his faculties of body and mind. 
His personal appearance was striking. He carried 
himself erect as an Indian, and was always brisk 
and active in his movements. He had something 
of a military bearing, and his personal appearance 
always attracted attention. None who saw him on 
the streets during the autumn of 1878 supposed he 
he was near the end of his long and useful life. 

His ninetieth birthday came on the 12th of 
November, 1878, and although his health and 
strength gave some signs of failing he bid fair to 
see his hundredth birthday. He continued his 
accustomed exercise, and on the 23d of November 
made a call on a friend and spent an hour at the 
Reading Room. Returning to his home he seemed 
feverish and to have taken a slight cold. During 
the afternoon he spent two hours in conversation 
with an old pupil who had called on him. 

The next day he grew worse, and on the 27th was 
attacked with spells of vomiting. He took to his 
bed and his physician was called in. From that 



82 PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 

time he grew worse and seemed to realize that his 
end was near. He lay calm and resigned, with his 
countenance expressing perfect repose and trust. 
At times he spoke words of consolation to his wife 
who attended him, and at other times repeated pas- 
sages in Latin and Greek from his favorite classical 
authors. The disease did not seem to yield to reme- 
dies, and he continued to grow worse. On Sunday 
morning, December 1st, 1878, at 7 o'clock he quietly 
passed away. His work on earth well and faith- 
fully done, he went to his reward. 

His funeral services were held in St. Mary's Epis- 
copal Church, on December 4th, and were, as he 
desired, free from display and ostentation. The 
Rev. W. T. Bowen officiated, and spoke eloquently 
and feelingly of the life and services of Professor 
Sams. His remains were followed to the grave by 
sorrowing friends and relatives, and laid away amid 
the hills he loved so well. As he was beloved in life, 
he was universally lamented at his death. 

Those who have followed us through the preceding 
pages have traced the career of Isaac Sams from 
infancy. Thrown an orphan on the world at an 
early age he preserved his purity and goodness. 
While but a youth a burning desire for an education 
took possession of him. Under many discourage- 
ments he pursued this object to its full fruition. 
With no advantages of teachers, schools or colleges, 
he acquired a store of knowledge that placed him in 
the front rank of the educated men of his day. 



PROFESSOR ISAAC SAMS. 8S 

The story of his life exemplifies how learning 
may be attained by perseverance and industry, and 
how good a use may be made of it when once 
acquired. His career as a teacher shows what may 
be accomplished by the true teacher who feels the 
glorious inspiration of his calling. 

He believed the work of the teacher second in 
importance to none other, and he always acted and 
taught in accordance with that belief. 

His pupils are scattered all over the land. AVher- 
ever they are, they feel and appreciate the obliga- 
tions they are under to him for arousing within 
them nobler purposes and a higher ambition for 
mental culture. 

They respect his blameless life and spotless char- 
acter, no less than they honor his literary acquire- 
ments and professional services. 

Life's fitful fever over, he now enjoys his rest in 
the bright and better land beyond the stars. 



FINIS. 



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